The Chinese government has more weapons in its arsenal to boost the world's second-largest economy, Premier Li Keqiang said yesterday, as he sought to ease concerns about flagging growth.

Li earlier this month reduced China's annual growth target to "approximately seven per cent", the lowest since a similar goal in 2004.

The economy expanded 7.4 per cent last year, the slowest pace in nearly a quarter of a century.

Fears are growing that Chinese expansion, a key driver of the global economy, may slow further after official data released last week showed production, consumption and investment growth all fell to multi-year lows.